I agree, bring the price down and the 32gb model is a prime candidate for purchase. The UI isn't bad, and the controls actually work quite well. I only wish the single click control to change tracks would work on it,...

What do u mean single click control? My i9 (when I put in hold), I use the +/- volume buttons to skip/rewind track just fine.

I think i'll be getting the i9+ (32gb), those of you who know me know I am a cowon whore, and whilst I have both a i9 16gb and a C2 4gb (and 32gb card inside) I'm not completely satisfied.
I love the form factor, weight and screen quality of the i9, but 16gb is not large enough (my 'best of' collection is currently 15.2gb, so too large for 16gb cards and internal memory).
I find the C2 just that tad too heavy (not really exercise friendly) and that 55hr battery life is overkill for me (don't get me started on the ridiculous 90hr D20 battery life!).
The 32gb card inside my C2 is overkill also. Whilst my main collection exceeds 60gb I don't love every single song in my collection, to have all of them on my DAP is not for me, I prefer to put my favorite songs only on my portable gear and less skipping of tracks. It will take years (at my rate of collecting new stuff) to exceed 32gb when using my 'best of' method.

Whilst I would prefer a microsd card (from a long term perspective) I suspect I will run into poor battery life before I get close to needing the entire 32gb space.
The i9+ fits my needs nicely.

What you're saying is pretty much was has me thinking about the 32 GB version of this for some time in the future, Bruce. It's not that it's all that sexy or cutting edge. It just has a feature set that fits what I'm looking for in a music only DAP.

TBH if there were a Sony E series that had 32 GB capacity available I'd prefer that. They both sound very good to my ears with just a little tweaking but the tactile buttons on the Sony are more to my taste. I've learned how to do most things one handed with my i9 but I find it much quicker and simpler using the Sony UI and tactile buttons.

As a person that mostly creates playlists I've found that having a external card can be somewhat of a pain. Having the additional capacity is great but keeping two separate memory addresses synced and creating playlists that span both can be a hassle.

Even with Rockboxed players that can easily have playlists that work across both memories I've still found times when I've had the same files on both memories. I've come up with some workarounds that prevent that from happening again but if there's a single memory I don't even have to deal with a workaround.

Drag and drop works best for me for moving files when there's just one memory. As long as I don't change the names I get the pop up to let me know I'm trying to add duplicates. Once the files are there it's simple to create playlists with any software that creates EXTM3U playlists.

I've found MusicBee actually does a great job at syncing files and creating playlists on my DAPs. MusicBee does most other things quite nicely but it excels at syncing my DAPs for me.

What do u mean single click control? My i9 (when I put in hold), I use the +/- volume buttons to skip/rewind track just fine.

I think i'll be getting the i9+ (32gb), those of you who know me know I am a cowon whore, and whilst I have both a i9 16gb and a C2 4gb (and 32gb card inside) I'm not completely satisfied.
I love the form factor, weight and screen quality of the i9, but 16gb is not large enough (my 'best of' collection is currently 15.2gb, so too large for 16gb cards and internal memory).
I find the C2 just that tad too heavy (not really exercise friendly) and that 55hr battery life is overkill for me (don't get me started on the ridiculous 90hr D20 battery life!).
The 32gb card inside my C2 is overkill also. Whilst my main collection exceeds 60gb I don't love every single song in my collection, to have all of them on my DAP is not for me, I prefer to put my favorite songs only on my portable gear and less skipping of tracks. It will take years (at my rate of collecting new stuff) to exceed 32gb when using my 'best of' method.

Whilst I would prefer a microsd card (from a long term perspective) I suspect I will run into poor battery life before I get close to needing the entire 32gb space.
The i9+ fits my needs nicely.

I find it somewhat amusing that someone with your usage patterns, like turning up the screen brightness, skipping songs a lot (that would wake up the screen) using the various BBE effects, and listening loud, would think of the rated battery life of the C2 or D20 or X9 as "overkill"...I would think that would be what you want!

And that 32GB i9+ will cost more than you spent on the C2 and the 32GB card you have in it, right? Seems to me like it would make more sense for you to use the i9 you already have as your exercise player.....seems like it wouldn't be too hard to cut out a few more songs out of your favorites. Then keep using the C2 at work when you need the extra battery.

I considered getting the i10 (32gb) instead of the c2 when i realised my 16gb i9 wasn't gonna cut it, but it looked a more larger awkward DAP than the c2 as well as more expensive, so i ended up with the C2.
But i've been saying for ages that an i9 with micro sdcard is pretty much my idea of a perfect DAP, so i'll take the next best thing a 32gb i9

I find it somewhat amusing that someone with your usage patterns, like turning up the screen brightness, skipping songs a lot (that would wake up the screen) using the various BBE effects, and listening loud, would think of the rated battery life of the C2 or D20 or X9 as "overkill"...I would think that would be what you want!

Erm maybe i contradict myself a bit in the past or did a poor job explaining myself. I don't skip songs much at all, remember i use a 'best of' collection on my DAP, and when i do skip a song the player is always in the hold position so the volume controls act as the skip method and the screen stays off.
There was another person here saying something along the lines of having never purposefully charged his player, that just the act of connecting to PC for usb transfer was enough to keep charge adequate, that's exactly how it is for me also.
I do have brightness full, and i do have volume loud, but most of the accessing of the player is done after initial switch on to build the playlist then it (the screen is off) for 95% of the time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marvin the Martian

And that 32GB i9+ will cost more than you spent on the C2 and the 32GB card you have in it, right? Seems to me like it would make more sense for you to use the i9 you already have as your exercise player.....seems like it wouldn't be too hard to cut out a few more songs out of your favorites. Then keep using the C2 at work when you need the extra battery.

But hey, it's your money.

That is kinda how i roll with my gear now, exactly as u said, i trimmed some favs out of the i9 and use them as u said. But its a bit of a pain, especially if i come across some new music i want to listen to (when exercising ie i9) and there's no room so i have to delete, add new stuff, then either put music back the way it was or leave it etc.
The 32gb micro sd card was a previous purchase way before I got the C2, and i'll always have a gadget that can use it somewhere else in the house (like me Galaxy S2, so it wont go to waste).
Once i sell the C2 and i9 that will help go towards the price of the i9+, I just want that all-in-one device that suits my needs, this i9+ should see me through the foreseeable future (at least 2-4yrs depending on battery life cycle issues).

Exportprive lists the date for availability (for the 32gb) as 2013-04-05, is that 4th of May or 5th of April? in uk we do day, month, year. In US i thought it Month, Day, Year. Wtf is this Year, ?, ? lol

I wouldn't see this as anything I'd be willing to get at this premium price. I have enough other DAPs to easily wait for the price to become what I would consider reasonable. My Sony S639 still gets solid 20 hrs+ so I'm in no rush.

If it makes it to Amazon.us at the listed price I'd still say that's a bit much. I'd be waiting to catch it at one of the lightning price drops that frequently happen on Amazon. If I saw it in the $125 range I'd *probably* jump it. If I don't see it in that price range, I'll wait or pass.

What do u mean single click control? My i9 (when I put in hold), I use the +/- volume buttons to skip/rewind track just fine

I guess you don't know I owned the i9? You don't know I've owned quite a few Cowon devices and I know all about the control mapping for the volume & menu buttons? Are YOUR requirements the same as Mine? I guess you've never used the clicker control for ff/rew, play/pause, next/prev? I have, and this would keep the volume controls as VOLUME controls.

What is the reason you seem to direct your comments at me like I don't know WTF I'm talking about??? Your requirements are different, don't tell me about a "feature" I already know of. It's getting to be redundant.

BTW: when the price drops a bit I think this would be a nice option. But, it'd cost more than a Sony E or S Series that had comparable memory. Bring it in line with Sony's Walkman players and it's acceptable to me.

I guess you don't know I owned the i9? You don't know I've owned quite a few Cowon devices and I know all about the control mapping for the volume & menu buttons? Are YOUR requirements the same as Mine? I guess you've never used the clicker control for ff/rew, play/pause, next/prev? I have, and this would keep the volume controls as VOLUME controls.

What is the reason you seem to direct your comments at me like I don't know WTF I'm talking about??? Your requirements are different, don't tell me about a "feature" I already know of. It's getting to be redundant.

BTW: when the price drops a bit I think this would be a nice option. But, it'd cost more than a Sony E or S Series that had comparable memory. Bring it in line with Sony's Walkman players and it's acceptable to me.

Whoa whoa there, i wasn't on the attack! I knew u have/had cowon devices and knew that a person of your knowledge should know about the mapping of volume buttons, so I really was genuinely confused as to why you would use the word 'clickable'. I didn't understand what you meant that's all?!
To me the world clickable suggests a tactile button, and that confused me because you can set the volume buttons to be clickable skipping/prev track (which i thought u would know about)... but i guess you mean you just want more tactile buttons to satisfy your needs.
I was not second guessing your needs in a player. I have my collection mp3gained so i rarely need to go up and down in volume, but on the occasions that I do, I can do it without even looking at the player by flicking the on/off/hold button, make the adjustment, put back into hold and resume the buttons to being skip/prev. Sure it would be nice to have extra tactile buttons, but I have learned to get around it easily enough.
Anyway I apologise if I offended you, that was not my intention.

On a side note I will likely have to buy from exportprive when it becomes available, as living in oz it is never guaranteed to be successful in purchasing from Amazon US or UK
All that's left is deciding what colour.... black or white...

This http://v-moda.com/1-button-speakeasy-cable/ is an inline one button control. It has nothing to do with the controls built into the player. The Cowon S9, J3, and my recently traded X9 all have tactile built in complete controls. The usage of the touch screen on them is unnecessary once you've selected what you want to play.

This is what I'm referring to, and what I prefer to use to change my tracks. This is also one reason I use apple devices to play music,...ease of use coupled with convenience. Cowon, IMO, still has a more pleasing sq to me. This is with all the bells & whistles enabled,...and the battery life doesn't hurt either.

PS: I'm known as a grump,...anyone here will tell you. If you keep talking to me like I'm clueless eventually I'll get pissed. Especially from a person I respect,...

My i9 would not work with my UE Super fi 5's IEMs as they had a inline one button control. Sound was not coming out properly, but if you sellotaped the buttons to be permanently pressed down the audio came out properly.
Other users have reported the same problem with their line in controls on different IEMs paired with the i9.

Why is the usb plug such a deal breaker for some people? I don't get it, it's the least of my worries. Sitting on my desk is my C2 propriety plug connected to a usb hub, its never taken out or lost...
Just buy a couple more plugs if yer worried about losing it, but don't let it be the deciding factor on whether or not to get a superb player!